"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross."
-- Sinclair Lewis

Monday, February 15, 2016

Hillary And The Lobbyists, Part II

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The newest Quinnipiac poll of Democratic primary voters nationally, shows a dead-heat between Bernie and the establishment candidate. They found Clinton's support had sunk to 44% (from 61% in December) and Bernie's had risen to 42% (from 30%). The hypothetical November match-ups with the 3 conceivable GOP nominees (though not Ryan; no one is polling him set) are more favorable to Bernie than to Clinton:

The one recent poll in Nevada also shows a tie (45-45%), again, a gigantic surge for Bernie-- and the opposite for the increasingly mistrusted Clinton. Yesterday the big poll release was for South Carolina from CBS News and although it shows Hillary with a comfortable margin 59-40%, it shows Bernie continuing, albeit slowly, to gain on her.

Hillary Clinton keeps her large lead in South Carolina, which has narrowed only slightly from last month, and she is bolstered by strong support from the African American voters who comprise most of the Democratic electorate here.Bernie Sanders leads among white voters and younger voters, continuing the campaign dynamics we saw in Iowa and New Hampshire, but in South Carolina that is not enough to bring him close.

Some of those other factors are also in play here. Sanders leads Clinton on being seen as honest and trustworthy, though here, a majority see both candidates as honest, so the effect is not as pronounced. And Clinton leads on preparedness for the Presidency, also echoing themes her campaign stressed in previous states.

This may auger well for Bernie, although many Democratic voters in South Carolina have been misled into believing both candidates are progressives. And... compared to South Carolina Republicans, they both are.

And meanwhile Bernie is not making nice with-- like alone endearing himself to-- the corrupt party bosses from the Democratic establishment. Wassermann Schultz (who's taken $279,108 in bribes from lobbyists), the Clintons (the biggest recipients of lobbyist funds in history), Schumer (who's taken $1,250,727 in bribes from lobbyists), Reid (who's taken $1,765,101 in bribes from lobbyists)... all wanted lobbyists and PACs back in the fold. What good is a pigsty without dump tricks of garbage and sewage? Bernie says he wants Hillary to join him in demanding Wasserman Schultz rescind her order to overturn Pres. Obama's rule that the DNC would no longer accept bribes-- legalized but still, clearly, bribes-- from corporate lobbysists and corporate PACs. Hillary? She's already taken almost three-quarters of a million dollars this cycle from lobbyists and $2,915,238 career-long more than anyone who has ever served in Congress in history. There's no a chance in the world that Wasserman Schultz, Reid and Schumer didn't clear it with her in advance-- and every single party insider I've spoken to is 100% positive it was her team's idea to begin with. These people-- in Reid's words, "have no moral compass" and every action they take is "a disgrace to the Democratic Party."David Sirota and Andy Perez noted that Bernie's campaign issued a statement terming the DNC decision "an unfortunate step backward. We support the restrictions that President Obama put in place and we hope Secretary Clinton will join us in supporting the president."

Clinton has increasingly predicated her candidacy on the assertion she is the best prepared to preserve Obama’s policies, and she has suggested Sanders has been insufficiently loyal to the president. However, Clinton so far has been silent on whether Obama’s DNC fundraising policy should be abandoned or honored: Her campaign did not respond to International Business Times’ questions about whether the former secretary of state will join Sanders’ demand for the DNC to preserve the president’s ban on lobbyist campaign cash....Federal elections records show Steve Elmendorf-- a former congressional staffer and a lobbyist for companies like Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and Verizon-- donated $33,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund in October. The joint fundraising committee collects funds in bulk and splits the proceeds among her campaign, the DNC and state parties. Elmendorf has bundled $172,320 worth of donations for Clinton's campaign, Yahoo reported.In December, Tony Podesta, a federal lobbyist and the brother of Clinton’s top campaign aide, gave $33,400 to the Hillary Victory Fund. A lobbyist for Wells Fargo, Lockheed Martin and Walmart, Podesta has raised more than $205,000 for Clinton’s campaign.